Lawyers for three Florida newspapers will urge an Orlando judge today to release medical records of U.S. Sen. Paula Hawkins because of questions about her truthfulness and use of painkillers since a 1982 neck injury.

The Miami Herald and The Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville joined a request Tuesday by The Orlando Sentinel to obtain access to all documents in a personal-injury lawsuit filed by the senator against WESH-Channel 2.

Newspaper lawyers will tell Orange Circuit Judge William Gridley that the issues of Hawkins' integrity and health justify release of the records.

The documents, which are not available in the public court file, include the records of 21 doctors and hospitals, sworn testimony by doctors and written questions and answers exchanged by lawyers for Hawkins and WESH.

The newspapers also have requested access to a 1982 videotape showing a studio backdrop falling on Hawkins' neck during a program at the television station in Winter Park.

The request comes in the final stretch of a bitter election battle between Hawkins, a first-term Republican from Winter Park, and her Democratic challenger, Gov. Bob Graham.

''The Senator has repeatedly asserted during the campaign that she has no health problems which could affect her ability to perform her duties,'' said Herald attorney Richard Ovelmen in a court document. ''If the records show that she has such health problems, they are germane to her truthfulness.''

The lawsuit filed by Hawkins in January claims she ''suffered physical handicap and her working ability was impaired'' by the accident. Hawkins, 59, is seeking an unspecified amount of money.

''If the records show she is seriously incapacitated, either by her injury or the medication she requires because of it, they are relevant to her physical fitness to hold office,'' Ovelmen said.

Hawkins' attorney, Larry Stewart, had no comment Tuesday. The senator and her campaign staff also have declined comment.

WESH attorney Bud Eubanks said last week the records are confidential and are being held by private individuals and companies. Lawsuit documents had to be placed in public files at the courthouse until 1982, when the Florida Supreme Court eliminated the requirement to ease storage problems.

In a legal memorandum filed Tuesday, Sentinel attorney David Evans said ''there can be no good cause advanced to justify Hawkins' efforts to hide until after the election the extent to which her functioning has been impaired.''

Since the accident Hawkins often has faced questions from reporters about her health and denied rumors that she was dependent on medication.

In February, Dr. Ed Farrar of Orlando said in an interview that he occasionally alternated the types of muscle relaxants he prescribed for Hawkins because her body had developed a tolerance for them.

Later that month Hawkins said in a Fort Lauderdale news conference that she was ''as strong as ever'' and denied rumors that she had been addicted to painkillers. In April, doctors at Duke University Medical Center operated on vertebrae in the senator's neck and back to relieve chronic pain.

The records of medical treatment by Farrar and Duke University are included in the newspaper requests for access.

Also requested is the transcript of sworn testimony given to attorneys by Dr. Freeman Cary, former director of the congressional Office of the Attending Physician in Washington.

Cary, who treated Hawkins for her injuries, retired in September after questions were raised about his treatment of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Cary prescribed the sedative-hypnotic drug Placidyl for Rehnquist's back pain in 1971. Rehnquist became dependent on the drug and had to be weaned from it in 1981 during a 10-day stay at George Washington University Hospital. Cary could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Questions about conflicts between what Hawkins says publicly about her health and what she claims in her lawsuit stem from charges by WESH attorney Al Pitts that Hawkins has misled the public about her medical condition.

Hawkins is ''trying to eat her cake and have it too,'' Pitts said in a court document.

''We wouldn't be joining the Sentinel in this effort if we didn't think it was important,'' said Herald managing editor Pete Weitzel.

The Herald and the Sentinel have endorsed Graham in his bid to unseat Hawkins on Nov. 4. The Times-Union endorsed Hawkins.

''Our endorsement further points to the seriousness of this,'' said Times-Union attorney Sanford Bohrer. ''It shows we're not out to hurt her. We feel an obligation to assert the public interest in these records.''